HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

DAVID DALEYTHE HARTFORD COURANT

It was one of Meghan Pattyson's first days at the state legislature, and she was seated at a public hearing when someone approached with a copy of an amendment, and asked if she wanted one. She politely declined, because saying yes would have "meant perhaps delving into this conversation further, which I was horrified to do, because I didn't know what was going on." A horrified colleague immediately set her straight. She still remembers the lecture. "You are such an idiot! That was a senator, and anytime a senator asks a lobbyist if they want anything, just take it." But, she says with a smile, "I didn't know who it was."

Pattyson, the former UConn basketball star and current TV voice, is in her first full session as a Capitol lobbyist, and there are all sorts of little protocols to learn, a new language of political arcana to master, a new arena in which to compete. She starts, however, with probably more goodwill -- let alone personality -- than any lobbyist in the building. After all, anyone associated with the women's NCAA championships -- let alone someone who graduated ninth on the all-time school scoring list -- is pretty close to being a rock star. The Statehouse doesn't have a lot of rock stars. Who better to have on your side for an issue, who better to spend a few minutes talking hoops with in the hallway?

"Everyone loves Connecticut basketball here," she says. "It's opened up doors that perhaps wouldn't have been opened, [started] conversations with folks that I wouldn't have had."

But it was a different UConn job than the one that the state knows her for best that started Pattyson on the road to her current position. In February 2001, she started working in the university's governmental affairs office. And in a matter of months, she was hired by the formidable firm of Roy & LeRoy, where she started in August.

It was former House Speaker Tom Ritter who thought she'd make a great public face for the university, recommended her for the UConn job, and kept urging her to give politics a try.

"The Capitol's a very personal place. You need someone who understands people, who understands how people make decisions," Ritter said. "Meghan's a great people person."

And, he suggests, a pretty savvy operator already. Ritter remembers one time when UConn had some issues with an amendment before the education committee. Pattyson had a few words with the key legislator, and presto, the amendment disappeared.

Today, however, over a sandwich at the Legislative Office Building cafeteria table, which doubles as an office, the public hearing schedules and bills strewn before her are signs of how much hard work it is for someone who has experienced incredible success in one field to try and master another one. "A lot of times it's Greek," she says, gesturing to the bills.

One step of mastering something new is translating it back to what you know.

"I actually can liken this whole process to a basketball season," she says. "All the preparation at the beginning when the session first starts. How you're going along and it's not high pressure, but as the session progresses it gets a little more intricate and detail oriented. And then the last couple weeks of the session that are kind of like the NCAA tournament, where everything comes down to this. That's when your competitive juices really get flowing. These guys live for that time."

Even with that competitive side, it seems fair to wonder why Pattyson would want to go from the sexy world of UConn hoops -- she graduated in 1992, coached there through the 1995 championship, and then moved to the broadcasting side, first radio, then CPTV, then the WNBA games on Lifetime -- to the more staid environs of a public hearing.

"People are shocked to see me here," she says. "The thing that fascinated me -- and I'm actually sort of embarrassed to say it -- but prior to my involvement in all this I was completely ignorant of the entire process. I didn't know how many state reps there were, I didn't know how many senators. And you know what? As sad as it is to say, I'm more the norm than the exception. It's given me the opportunity to learn.

"The way I see our job," she says, "is to bring in our clients who are the experts in various issues, and present the information. That part's pretty cool, especially when they're issues you believe in."

Not all her friends and family associate politics with public service, though.

"I was at a family gathering not too long ago and I told someone I was getting involved in this, and they said the typical public perception. 'Oh politicians. They're all scumbags.' How ignorant a statement is that? What I found when I came down here is that there are fabulous people in this building who are involved for the right reasons. Are there idiots? Of course. But there are idiots everywhere. And there are days when I'm an idiot."

Her confidence in the process was buoyed by what she heard from other politicos when she first arrived. "The one piece of advice I got from everybody when I first got into this last year -- whether it was from lobbyists or senators or representatives or people in the governor's office -- was, 'Meghan, never, ever be dishonest. Don't lie. Don't go back on your word. That's everything.' I was encouraged by that. To me, there's no other way."

She's been protected from some of the serious hardball. Roy & LeRoy is one of the most serious of corporate lobbying groups ---- Aetna, Citigroup and CBIA are among the client list, as is Philip Morris. Her bosses won't let her near that account -- probably aware both that an accomplished athlete would not make a convincing tobacco lobbyist, and also to keep something so delicate in more politically experienced hands.

Indeed, there are days when Pattyson doesn't feel like she's doing enough. She's used to playing an important role, of seeing results when she puts in the work. It isn't easy just to watch and learn, to see how the process evolves, even though her bosses have told her that's the most important thing for anyone in their first real session.

"I enjoy following the process, and watching how it works and seeing how people react to certain things. I've just been so fascinated by the whole process -- partly, I think, because I don't fully understand it yet," she says. "There are some days I feel so lost. I feel like I'm the dumbest person in America. Then other days I feel like I got better. Everyone tells me that's par for the course."